The chairman of New Jersey's Republican Party has asked the state Supreme Court to order the release of e-mails exchanged by Gov. Jon Corzine and former state workers union leader Carla Katz, his ex-girlfriend.

Tom Wilson filed a petition with the high court Wednesday night, asking the justices to reverse an appeals court ruling that the e-mails need not be made public.

That unanimous ruling reversed a lower-court order for Corzine to release hundreds of pages of correspondence between the governor, his aides and Katz during a period that included negotiations over a state worker contract that was adopted in 2007.

The Supreme Court will now weigh whether to take the case. If it does, the legal wrangling could stretch deep into the Democratic governor's re-election year.

"The public has the right to judge for themselves whether Corzine's conduct was appropriate," Wilson said. "To do so, they need to see the e-mails and look at Corzine's actions on this contract."

Corzine has said he welcomes an appeal, and that he wants to protect the freedom to communicate for himself and future governors. A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, which is handling the case for Corzine, said a response would be filed with the court within 15 days.

"The appellate court found it was in the public's interest for Gov. Corzine and all future governors to consult confidentially with a wide variety of people," spokesman David Wald said in an e-mail.

At the time the e-mails were exchanged, Katz was president of Communications Workers of America Local 1034. The union's executive board removed Katz from that post in July and replaced her with a temporary administrator.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, Wilson argued the case involves key issues of separation of powers and open government that the high court should decide. He said the appellate court's finding that the e-mails were protected by executive privilege failed to acknowledge the privilege is a "qualified," not absolute, one. He said the appellate decision "allows the executive to act in a vacuum free from scrutiny."

"This blanket shield over any gubernatorial communications raises significant constitutional questions that mandate review by this Court," said the petition, which was filed by GOP lawyer Mark Sheridan. "The Appellate Division's grant of near absolute secrecy to the governor is directly contrary to New Jersey courts' tradition of, and the public policy supporting, openness and hostility to secrecy in government."

Wilson's appeal also disagrees with the appellate court's decision that Katz was offering "advice" to the governor that should be kept confidential. Because the two were on opposite sides of the labor negotiations, their communications could not be considered advice, Sheridan wrote.

Corzine has said "the bargaining was done at the bargaining table," but he refused to describe the contents of the e-mails. The appellate court said Corzine and Katz's previous comments about the state worker contract negotiations and their outcome are enough to satisfy the public interest.

The 2007 contract included higher pension and health care contributions and other concessions on the part of state workers in exchange for raises over the four-year contract.

"The release of confidential e-mails may have a chilling effect on the governor's ability or willingness to solicit advice, or to accept unsolicited advice in the future," the appeals court said in its January ruling.

So far, it has cost $114,000 for state lawyers to handle the case, according to the Attorney General's Office. State officials stress the money is not actually paid out, but an approximation of the value of the time spent by state personnel working on the case.

Corzine dated Katz for two years before he ran for governor, and he gave her a multimillion-dollar sum when they split up.